1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an apparatus for irrigating and draining body wounds of patients, having a base plate, which can be sealingly fixed to the area surrounding a wound and which has an opening for the passage of tubes and lines and which is provided with a closed bag fixed or fixable in sealing manner to the base plate and which is provided with an opening in the fixing area. The apparatus can also be used for treating animal wounds.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In an apparatus of the aforementioned type known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,553,967, the bag has several openings which can be individually sealingly closed by means of covers and which face the lower bag opening aligned with the base plate opening. As required, it is possible to sealingly connect to the bag at one of the openings an irrigating apparatus constituted by several components. As desired, it is also possible to sealingly connect to one of these openings a catheter holding device comprising a set of components for the purpose of draining the wound. A further opening in the bag wall positioned directly alongside the bag opening and which is aligned with the base plate opening, is used for manipulation purposes when fixing the bag and for emptying the bag into a container or for the connection of a sleeve used for emptying into a container positioned alongside the patient's bed.
This known apparatus comprises a plurality of components and devices connectable for different purposes to the bag by means of separate openings, which can be individually sealed by covers, so that the apparatus costs are high. By means of the irrigating apparatus, irrigating liquid can only be introduced from the outside into the bag, so that, if at all, only the surface of the wound area can be reached by the irrigating liquid. A wound drainage catheter whose front open end is normally inserted in the wound area during an operation is very difficult to manipulate with the device provided for wound drainage, particularly as said device must first be sealingly fitted to the bag.
Bag emptying via the large opening remains problematical due to the unavoidable unpleasant odors in the surrounding area. Unpleasant odors also occur when removing secretions from the wound area via the catheter into a container or the like. In addition, in the known apparatus, as a result of the large number of devices connectable to the bag, there is a large number of disturbing plastic parts on the bag and therefore on the patient's body.
In the apparatus known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,790,833, it is only possible to empty the bag via a tube connection inserted in the bag wall and which can be closed with a plug or stopper. Lines or tubes are not passed through the bag wall. However, the bag can be inverted over a wound catheter, which is separately fixed. A similar emptying occurs in the case of the apparatus known from German Patent 32 16 523. A different type of bag known from European Patent 286 229 is emptied by means of a valve. U.S. Pat. No. 4,449,970 and German Patent 24 42 087 merely show difficultly manipulatable bags for covering and possibly also draining wounds.
Thus, at present no possibility exists for avoiding the unpleasant odors in the surrounding area when draining off secretions (e.g. pus) and irrigating liquid.
The dirtying of the patient's bed by secretions and irrigating media associated with the irrigation and drainage of wounds constitutes a considerable burden for nursing staff and makes it frequently necessary to change the bed linen.